How the coronavirus is impacting the CCU football team as it prepares to open at Kansas
Though Coastal Carolina University will not single out the number of positive coronavirus cases among athletes compared to the overall student body, head football coach Jamey Chadwell shed light Tuesday on the impact COVID-19 has had on the team through nearly three weeks of fall camp.
On Friday, the university reported six new cases among students in the week of Aug. 12-19 and three cases among staff, bringing the total number of positive cases on campus between June 8 and Aug. 19 to 63.
Chadwell said that on the football team, individuals who test positive must isolate, and those who were deemed to be in close contact with them must quarantine and be tested.
Though CCU has a test that produces results within 30 minutes for its students, the NCAA and Sun Belt Conference are requiring the nasal swab test for football players that generally takes multiple days for results.
“The biggest effect you have is not necessarily the positives, it’s the people associated with them,” Chadwell said. “Even if they’re not a positive, if they have a symptom then you have to take them out and test them. . . . We may have somebody that doesn’t have it but if we have to wait five days on a test they miss five days of practice, plus the people they’re rooming with. That’s been the biggest issue.”
Chadwell said up to 14 players have been absent from practices at any one time in order to isolate or quarantine.
“It’s still early in the process, being three weeks away from really determining what type of team we’re going to be because we’ve had so many ups and downs with quarantines and isolations and injuries and all the different things you’re having to learn throughout this process,” Chadwell said. “So hopefully this week going into next week we’ll really finalize what the depth charts are going to look like and how it’s going to lay out as we prepare for Kansas.
“. . . Every day you preach about being diligent with masks, because if somebody messes up you lose half your team. So we spend every day just talking about doing those things right all the time.”
CCU hosted five move-in days beginning Aug. 12 and the university is holding virtual classes at least until Sept. 8. Football players began returning to campus for volunteer workouts on June 8.
The Chanticleers are scheduled to begin the season on Sept. 12 at Kansas.
The 2020 schedule
Sept. 12 at Kansas
Sept. 19 vs. Campbell
Oct. 3 vs. Arkansas State
Oct. 17 at Louisiana
Oct. 24 vs. Georgia Southern
Oct. 29 at Georgia State
Nov. 7 vs. South Alabama
Nov. 14 at Troy
Nov. 21 vs. Appalachian State
Nov. 28 at Texas State
Dec. 5 vs. Liberty
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 8:58 PM.
